Macra National News Round Up 13th September

Post on: Thu, 13, September 2018

Young Leaders Recognised at Macra na Feirme/ABP County Leaders of the Year Awards

Macra na Feirme recognised its outstanding young leaders at the 2018 Macra/ABP County Leaders of the Year Awards in Clayton Whites Hotel in Wexford last Saturday night. Forty awards were handed out to Macra na Feirme members who made a significant contribution to their Macra na Feirme club, county and community in the past year.

Afterwards, all-Ireland-winning Kilkenny hurler Richie Power joined Noreen Walsh from ABP and Macra na Feirme president James Healy on stage to hand out the president’s county leadership medal to 20 Macra members who will now go forward to the national leaders of the year semifinals, which will take place in October. Power advised members to ‘‘surround yourself with good people. They are the ones that ensure you achieve your potential. Embrace what you enjoy and enjoy it to the fullest. You need leaders who can build camaraderie and ones that always have your back and for me that’s what a leader is, someone in the background doing the hard work that you don’t always see’’.

Macra na Feirme president James Healy praised members for their hard work and dedication, saying: ‘‘We often say in Macra, you get out of Macra what you put in and it’s fair to say the members receiving awards tonight have shown great drive, determination and enthusiasm in their Macra roles over the past year and I would like to congratulate them on receiving this important accolade. ‘‘I would also like to thank ABP for their ongoing support of these awards and for helping to make this event memorable for all our finalists.’’

Irish Food and Farming in a Changing Europe

Nenagh library, as Europe Direct Information Centre for counties Tipperary, Limerick, Cork and Kerry, is hosting a Citizens Dialogue entitled “Irish Food and Farming in a Changing Europe” in Nenagh Library on Thursday, 13th September at 7pm.

Speakers on the night will include Gerard Kiely, Head of the European Commission Representation in Ireland who will speak about the challenges facing the EU and Thomas Ryan, Senior Policy Executive, Irish Farmers' Association, who will discuss these changes and challenges for Ireland in the current CAP negotiations. The talk will be followed by a panel discussion which will include Clodagh Cavanagh, MD of Abbey Machinery and Conor Ryan, CEO of Arrabawn Co-operative Society Ltd.

All are welcome.

ACORNS: Accelerating the Creation Of Rural Nascent Start-ups

The ACORNS programme has been designed to support early-stage female entrepreneurs living in rural Ireland and runs over six months part-time. Past participants report increased sales, exports and employment creation.

Based on a belief that entrepreneurs learn best from each other, the ACORNS initiative is centered around interactive round table sessions that are facilitated by female entrepreneurs, known as ‘Lead Entrepreneurs’, who have started and successfully grown businesses in rural Ireland. Click here for more information about these Lead Entrepreneurs.

To be eligible participants must have or intended to have a new business located outside the city boundaries of Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford. The programme is open to early stage female entrepreneurs who have recently started a business, which has less than two years sales, or who are at an advanced stage of setting up a business.

The initiative is funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine through the Rural Innovation and Development Fund.

If you would like to find out more about the initiative or have any questions about ACORNS please feel free to contact us at info@acorns.ie, phone the office at 01 845 0770 or download our brochure here or view the short video below.

Those interested in receiving an application for should register their interest here. Closing date for receipt of completed application forms is 21 September 2018.

Volunteers Wanted

T.P. Waters Kildare and Seat Ireland will be hosting a very special run on Sunday 16th September, with all proceeds going to Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Ireland (SBHI).

Instead of the usual 5 or 10 kilometre run, they are challenging participants to run 5 or 10 miles, starting from the T.P. Waters showrooms located on the Monasterevin Road outside Kildare Town.

We are seeking volunteers on the day to marshal the course if any of your members may be interested.

The run is scheduled to start at 11am, so we hope to have volunteers present from 10am/10:30 to make sure everyone is briefed and has time to go to their marshal posts. We expect the event to conclude around 2pm.